Maangamizi:  The Ancient One

A Gris-Gris Films production (2000). Produced by Queenae Taylor Mulvihill, Martin Mhando. Co-producers, David Rosshirt, Casta Tungaraza, Leonard Merrill Kurz. Executive producers, Jonathan Demme, Joan Cunning, Steven Shareshian. Directed by Ron Mulvihill and Martin Mhando. Screenplay by Queenae Taylor Mulvihill.
(English and Swahili dialogue with subtitles)

           Maangamizi is a film essentially about healing and the healing process. In this respect, it is comparable to many other films with similar themes:  characters facing up to and dealing with damaging, traumatic childhood events; finding solace in a "soulmate" whose purpose is to provide guidance through the process of healing, and who is simultaneously healed by his/her interaction with the "patient"; and the changes one must make in order to undergo the transformation from the tormented to the triumphant, ultimately reconnecting with one's self.  The uniqueness of this film, however, is that all of these themes are dealt with from a traditional African perspective on healing, spirituality, and transformation.  In doing so, the filmmakers have crafted an exceptional story that lingers in the mind and speaks long after the credits have finished. This film moves you.

 

           Maangamizi emanates from the bold presupposition of turning long-held views of western religion vs. traditional African spirituality on its head, or, rightfully, on its feet.  Since its encounter with the west, African spirituality, as well as all other non-western forms of religious practice, has been maligned, misrepresented, and misunderstood, intentionally or otherwise. The magic of Maangamizi is that it does not attempt to unravel the tangled mess of historical confusion, rather it simply ignores it and quite naturally proceeds on the African path.  Other films and other filmmakers may have attempted to deal directly with the conflict of western vs. African, with characters having to decide which road to take, making cultural pronouncements and denouncements along the way.  In Maangamizi, as in traditional African societies, prior to invasion and interference from outsiders, there is no conflict or confusion. There is only "the way", revealed to the two main characters, Samehe and Asira, via the ancestral and maternal persona of Maangamizi.

           Samehe (Amandina Lihamba) is a troubled, mysterious mental patient at a rural hospital who spends most of her days gazing, as if in a trance, out of a window. She appears to be looking, waiting for someone or something.  We soon learn that her trouble stems from a traumatic, unknown childhood event that has rendered her mute for twenty years.  Dr. Asira, played by the stately BarbaraO (Daughters of the Dust, Bush Mama), arrives at the clinic to assist and conduct research, and is immediately drawn to the silent Samehe. Together, they embark upon an internal, spiritual journey of remembrance and revelation, peeling back layer after layer of emotional and psychological baggage, guided by the ever-present Maangamizi (Mwanajuma Ali Hassan), who serves as the ancestral link between each and their past and each other.

           This film contains a few ironies that may seem strange upon first pondering, but can be made sense of with a little delving. Maangamizi is the character that initiates the healing process, whose Swahili name, though, actually means "the destroyer".  In the film, Samehe says that Maangamizi is "the destroyer who brings new life from the ashes". This apparent contradiction actually speaks well to the traditional African conception of the duality that exists throughout nature. Like the western concept of action and reaction, and like the eastern concept of yin and yang, in the African ethos all things have a dual nature. So it is with Maangamizi. 

           Also, this film, with all of its homage to traditional African spirituality, was actually initially conceptualized by script-writer Queenae Taylor Mulvihill around the ancient Greek goddess Hekate.  But before we mislabel this film as essentially Greek in African clothing, we must remember that much of Greek culture owes its existence to the influence of the Kemetic people (ancient Egyptians) along the Nile Valley. It was there that the great Greek philosophers studied, and it was from there that they took many of their cultural expressions, refashioned in a Greek image though they may be.  So, the ideas of ancestral remembrance and worship, spirits who serve as intermediaries, the existence of a spiritual realm whereunto only a few have access, all of which are present in Maanagamizi, are, at their root, essentially African.

           Indeed, the essential Africanness of this film, with it's ideas of spirit, magical powers, the realm of the ancestors, et al, might unnerve those who are used to seeing western concepts of religion validated on the big screen. Christians might take offense to the portrayal of Samehe's father, who is a maniacal, religious zealot. Also, when Samehe descends into the place where unrighteous spirits are banished to, a place akin to "hell", some might be unsettled by the spin the film gives it. However, if one can maintain an open mind, concentrate on the universal themes of the necessity of remembrance and healing, and fully appreciate the film's very powerful message of the power of forgiveness, then everyone can learn from and be moved by this film. 

           The international cast and crew of Maangamizi have crafted an excellent and very important film. The three female lead actresses, BarbaraO, Lihamba, and Ali Hassan, all give very commanding and memorable performances.  Directors Ron Mulvihill, of the United States, and the Tanzanian-born Martin Mhando have crafted a picture that, though it most likely will remain on the underground film circuit due to its subject-matter and predominantly black cast, will remain, too, deeply ingrained on the minds of all who view it. Perhaps writer Alice Walker, author of The Color Purple and a staunch supporter of Maangamizi, said it best: "[It] is more than a movie.  It is a way back to who we are still deep, deep down in our psyches.  We are held by it.  Mesmerized to see on screen something that we normally, if we are lucky, experience only in dreams.  The reconnection to The Way."

©2003, WiseOne (Art Wallace, Jr.)  Wise One Productions